Act XXXVII Talking About Dancing	click here for the home page of the new bryanbellerdotcom

"Talking about music is like dancing about architecture."

Yes, my friends, it’s time for that Life Of Bryan tradition, the in-depth review and insider’s report on the new MK/BFD epic, Dancing.

I want to get right to it, but there are two things worth mentioning up front. First, this will only deal with the actual studio CD, not the live "special edition" bonus CD. I think that’s best left as a treat undeciphered by participants (though there may be copious liner notes on the subject, in which case I’m avoiding redundancy as well; I admit to not having seen the notes at the time of this writing). Second, a recommendation: Don’t read this unless you’ve already bought and at least partially digested the album. I think you’ll get more out of it this way, and you’ll also avoid that annoying phenomenon of being disappointed by a movie because the trailer told you all you needed to know. Know what I mean? Good.

It had been three whole years since I’d been through the process of recording a record for Mr. K, and at that point it really was for Mr. K as opposed to the now universally accepted acronym MK/BFD. The Sluggo sessions were recorded in short bursts between breaks of the Vai tour, with differing lineups from song to song. For a bassist recording basic tracks, it’s really all about who the drummer is. In my mind, there were the Joe Travers sessions ("Frozen Beef", "I’m Afraid", "Own" [titled "Motor Skills" at the time, for you trivia buffs]), the Toss Panos sessions ("Voyage To Manhood", "Beautiful", "Chatfield Manor") and the "overdub" sessions, at which I played to a drum track previously-recorded by either Keneally or Mike Mangini ("I, Drum-Running…", "Egg Zooming", "Cardboard Dog"). Lots of fun and certainly challenging, but fairly disjointed. I couldn’t get a sense of the album as a whole; only Mike knew the concept for sure, and in his head at that. And sure, I got a kick out of being the most frequently heard guy on the CD not named Mike Keneally, but you couldn’t call it a "band record."

Enter the Dancing concept, a total 180-degree turn from the Sluggo (and, for that matter, Dust Speck and hat) philosophy. This would be solely recorded by a core band (Keneally, Beller, Smith, Ziegenhagen) with two years of stability and over seventy-five shows’ worth of shared experience. New members Rick Musallam and Evan Francis aren’t exactly new either, having gigged sporadically with BFD since September of ’99. Even the band’s newly acquired "eyebrows"–Tricia Williams and Chris Opperman–had at least some live experience with us. I was excited to do an album with a consistent lineup, and even more excited to be on practically every track–a first even for me.

There were other differences between this and past MK records. The basics were to be done at Signature Sound, under the watchful eye of engineer Mike Harris. Jeff Forrest used to (and still can) work miracles at Double Time, but Signature offered a larger main room and several iso booths. As Jimmy Page famously said, "Distance equals depth." As a result, vocals and guitar sounds were deeper and richer than ever before.

My own sound was a revelation. (Warning: bass tech talk ahead, lasting at least three paragraphs.) On Boil That Dust Speck I still had my original, pre-Gibson Tobias 5-string, and somehow we got this magic sound out of it even though we simply recorded it direct. As you may or may not know, that bass was stolen out of my apartment later that year (1994). I was under the misguided impression that any bass would do well under similar recording conditions. Not. The original, unprocessed bass sound on Sluggo was well below average, and Herculean effort was required to make it anything better than flat-out offensive.

I had pretty much blocked out the experience until Steve Vai called me to do two tracks for The Ultra-Zone. The first was "Lucky Charms", a tune which called for that old magic Tobias sound. Fortunately for me I’d talked SWR into procuring a new MTD (Michael Tobias Design) 5-string, and though it still fell short of the "Dust Speck" magic, it did the job I asked of it. Then, for the aggressive rocker "Fever Dreams", Steve wanted something more. I’d brought a Mike Lull 5-string, a more rock-sounding bass to begin with. He then proceeded to record it in three tracks: one straight direct, one sent to a gargantuan Ampeg/SVT rig and miked, and one sent through a SansAmp PSA-1 distortion preset and then straight to the board. The sound was unreal. I began to think about how I could track three sounds of my choosing.

I first tried out the "three track theory" on my own in Seattle while tracking for guitarist/songwriter Yogi (I’ve mentioned him before, I believe), and it worked splendidly. I basically used the same setup for the Dancing sessions, as listed below in three parts:

Track 1: Direct, through one of those very expensive tube D.I. boxes.

Track 2: The "clean" amp channel. Bass signal into an SWR Super Redhead 2x10 combo, with an SWR Mr. Tone Controls 9-band semi-parametric EQ blended into the effects loop.

Track 3: The "dirty" amp channel. Bass signal into an SWR Interstellar Overdrive Preamp, powered by one side of a Peavey DPC1000 power amp and sent to an SWR Goliath Junior III 2x10 speaker cabinet.

I had a T.C. Electronics chorus/flange pedal in front of everything, including the D.I. I also used a Raven Labs PHA-1 Headphone Amp for personal monitoring throughout the session, because I sat in the control room during tracking and I despise headphone mixes in general (the PHA-1 sent me only bass and it was heavenly; if you don’t have one of these you don’t know what you’re missing).

The only compromise I had to make was that I couldn’t take three separate tracks to tape. They had to be submixed down to one track, with levels adjusted appropriately before each time the red light went on. Another variable was the level of drive present on the Interstellar Overdrive. Some songs needed a good deal of crunch, others just a touch to add midrange and roundness to the overall sound. MK and the boys were good about letting me find what was right for each tune. Without seeming too boastful, I have to say that the results left me ecstatic.

As far as basses went, I primarily used an orange sunburst MTD 5-string (as pictured on the MK page some months ago), with the exception of a Reverend 4-string for "Ankle Bracelet" and "Lhai Sol." What about the Fender Deluxe V, you ask? It’s still my number one live instrument, and it still sits in a band as well as any bass I’ve ever heard. However, recently I replaced the stock single-coil pickups (which could be incredibly noisy in the wrong venue) with the new "Noiseless" variety, and while I’m still perfectly happy with them live, I did lose something subtle yet essential in the tone. The MTD really is the closest thing to what I would call "my" sound in a studio setting. Unfortunately it doesn’t put up enough of a fight live, and my fingers just mangle the thing out of existence when I get excited. The Fender fights back just enough.

OK, enough bass talk. A couple of things before we go track-by-track…did you know we recorded this album in sequence? Of course, the sequence changed from the time of recording, but the concept really did give us a sense of journey throughout the four-day affair. (Remember, I was only there for basic tracks, so a lot of this will be skewed to represent that perspective.)

Lastly, even though "Dancing" was done with a more cohesive concept in mind than any of its predecessors, that didn’t mean it didn’t go through its paces as it neared completion. This is something of a Keneally/BFD tradition by now. Back in ’94, Mike played Tom Freeman and I a "final master" of Boil That Dust Speck so depressing that we all almost drove off a cliff. (The sequence was changed radically before release.) In the case of Sluggo, supposed "final mixes" had to be scrapped and redone from scratch due to the presence of large quantities of crack in the control room of Double Time Studios in 1997. Dancing had its own little controversy of "is it done or isn’t it?", but it was limited to a mastering question. So you could make the case that we’re progressing each time out. Maybe two albums from now we’ll have the process dicked to the point where we can just release rough mixes right after they’re done.

Mr. K did take the time to read what you’re about to read, and added some choice comments. Look for them in italics.

Enough prelude, eh? As Joe Travers would say, "Let’s get down to the gritdown!"

SIDE ONE

"Live In Japan"–a great opener for both the record and the session. One of the reasons the tracks have such a band feel is because we had everyone tracking at once just about all the time. Sure, a lot of them ended up being scratch tracks, but on a tune like this where all eight members have a part, there’s something to having everyone in on the basic. I crunched out the sound in search of that Andy West/Mistakes growl and eventually found something I liked. I’d also never recorded with Jason before, and any questions I might have had were answered when he "made the click go away" in seconds and nailed both takes, the second of which we ended up keeping.

Generally we’d come in the control room and decide if we liked the drums and the vibe. If so, then it was my turn to fix anything I screwed up (usually one or two little things every track, dammit). Then it depended on how fast we wanted to go. Sometimes Rick would go back and fix a little something, sometimes Tricia, sometimes Evan, sometimes Marc. In this case I think Tricia went right back in and nailed her solo melody…and maybe Rick did something or other. I know there was a drive to finish this one out to see how a complete track would sound in this new setting.

Even though I wasn’t there, by all accounts the vocal tracking on this was a difficult fucking thing. They were done as live gang vocals, even the harmonies. I’m told that hours were spent. (MK sez: "I’m sure it would have taken Kid Rock two days to accomplish the same thing.) Mike has a tendency to write his pop melodies in McKinleyesque registers, and this one’s no exception–the modulation gets up to a high ‘A’, and one harmony hits the stratosphere with a high ‘D#’. Auditions for female backup singers will be held soon. Castrated males are also welcome.

There are two things I love about this track. One is simple–the two-guitar/trumpet bent-up chord on the last hit. Two is more complex. Keneally, IMHO, does a great job creating penultimate moments in his song arrangements. Here are some examples: the restatement of the introduction sans-groove after the long instrumental section of "Cardboard Dog"; the held chord in the last vocal chorus of "There Have Been Bad Moments"; the guitar break right before the last chorus of "Chatfield Manor"; the held ‘E’ chord before the last vocals of "Potato"…get it? When done right, these moments can give you chills. The instrumental break after the modulated chorus, followed by the build on the G-over-F chord…yeah, baby.

"Ankle Bracelet"–say hello to my new friend, the Reverend Rumblebass 4-string. And say hello to my old enemy, the pick. Steve Vai wanted me to use a pick on "Fever Dreams," but once he saw my technique he thought better of it. Props to Mike for letting me struggle through this one in order to get the right sound. Yes, this was a first for me in the studio. I wish the drums sounded a little more Stone Temple Pilots-ish, but the bass and guitars (and keyboards–listen to the ending) do it for me in spades. All that feedback and random noise generated by Rick and Mike is classic amplifier abuse. For the record, I had the T.C. chorus/flange on but in "pitch modulation" mode, a very subtle effect.

This song reminds me of The Verve’s "Urban Hymns" record, a proud association. Also, I can watch Tricia play tambourine on this all day long. Why do I get the feeling that I’m not the only one?

"Poo-Tee-Weet?"–can’t you just picture Mike, Rick, Jason and Bob Tedde’s faces four-up with a black background, "Bohemian Rhapsody"-style, doing this bit? Originally the bass was removed, but somehow it ended up back in. I wasn’t there for the vocal tracking on this one. I do know that we’ve done an instrumental version of this where the part on the record serves as a head and band members solo over the changes, something I adore and hope we do live in the future.

"Backwards Deb"–one of the oldest "new" tunes, and also the one most radically reworked. We recorded it with the traditional live feel and arrangement with no idea of what Keneally would eventually do to it. The drums turned into this claustrophobic, no-cymbals-allowed, Tom Waits-sounding thing. Tracks were removed in some sections. A chorus was cut in half, the solo was chopped up, there now was no solo but instead a sax harmony with a Western-twang guitar, the ending was literally turned inside out, etc. I know this one’s floating around out there in its original arrangement…an interesting comparison, to be sure. The ending lick (the cascading arpeggios) is no picnic and never seems to get any easier.

"We’ll Be Right Back"–you want to know why I’m in this band? Because of songs like this. Just listen to the chorus–the long, floating melody, the underlying bass counter-melody, the 6/8 syncopated chords–and wonder, as I do, how such depth can be created from nothing.

The introduction was charted for the chamber pieces, but my part just kind of fell into place and was improvised on the take we kept. We recorded everything in one pass up until the so-called "Pink Floyd" section, at which point we stopped and went back to fix some things (I’m pretty sure Jason got a first take on this). I wanted to get something better for the vocal bridge (the restatement of the introduction with vocals on top of it), so I took the whole section again and got something I wouldn’t do over if you had a gun to my head. (Photographic evidence of me tracking this overdub exists; it’s the picture of Mike standing over me and laughing while I’ve got the MTD in my lap). I also wanted to craft something special for the choruses, and it came in the way of overdubbed harmonics. For all of the self-bashing I engage in, I’m pretty damn proud of it.

But the amazing part of this track is the "Floyd" section. I wasn’t sold on the part to begin with (I thought it distracted from the main tune), and then I thought it was too long. Shows you what I know. How sweet is that Rhodes? Mike’s guitar solo is live from the basic track we ended up keeping, and a consensus is building among the inner circle that it’s the best solo he’s ever played. It’s even being shown deference by us staying mostly true to it live, a rarity in BFD history.

Maybe my musical tastes are maturing. On Sluggo, my favorite song was "Voyage To Manhood." On Dancing, it’s this.

SIDE TWO

"Joe"–honestly, I’ve never been much for the major-seventh-loaded, mid-tempo pop ballads that dominated the seventies, but this song isn’t named "Bryan." If you know Joe Travers, you know why this song sounds like he is. Dig how detuned Jason’s snare drum is on this. And I’m waiting for someone to tell me why Evan’s saxophone is the best recorded sound to tape on the whole record. How about those synth harmonies in the second verse? Next thing you know they’ll start showing girls with natural breasts in pornos again.

"Pretty Enough For Girls"–hard to believe I think of this one as an "old" song, but I do. This and "Taster" were the "We’re Not Here To Help" tour’s theme songs, it seemed. It was always ripe for a lush arrangement--more than we could provide live at times–and here it gets one. Ladies and gentleman, introducing Tricia Williams and Chris Opperman. Tricia gets a lot of the dreamy stuff, laid out for her in a ten-page chart or so. Oppy–for whom trumpet is not a primary instrument–takes the triumphant bursts. Check out the flanged guitar in the choruses…and Tricia’s counter-melody to my descending bassline at the top of the second verse (my little tribute to Chris Squire’s verse line in "The Gates Of Delirium")…and the slight doubling effect on MK’s guitar at the end of his solo…and the new bridge section (very snazzy)…plenty to chew on for those who’ve heard it before. For those who haven’t, a rich meal awaits.

"Taster"–this seemingly simple song poses some deceiving challenges for everyone, but none so much as for Jason. Drummers will know this from the first bar, but for the rest of you out there…do you have any idea how extremely difficult it is to play a _ funk shuffle groove at this mind-bendingly slow tempo? There are plenty of high-level working pros out there who couldn’t touch this song and keep it steady. It’s an awesome display of technique and ability on Jason’s part.

I’ve liked this song for a long, long time, but I’ve always wished for a more rich, Stevie Ray/Michael Landau clean guitar tone for the melody. Until the day Mike goes out and buys thousands of dollars worth of vintage 60’s Fender gear, that’s a live impossibility, but I really like the sound they got in the studio. Tricia and Marc do some cute doubling in the middle section. I wish there wasn’t quite so much compression on the bass track to tape so that those nasty slapped downbeats could come out more, but now I’m getting nitpicky. I recorded this whole song (and a large part of "Pretty Enough") with the T.C. chorus engaged.

"Dancing"–what fun. You’d be amazed what brand new strings, an uncut fingernail, a low ‘B’ string and a T.C. flanger with all the dials set to maximum can do. Picking out the bass notes for the chorus was a perverse joy. They are: (high) D, C, (down to) D#, B, (up to) D, (down to) F, low B. The acoustic guitar and vocal sounds (not to mention performance) are something else, aren’t they?

SIDE THREE

"Selfish Otter"–the agony and the ecstasy. Ecstasy: The improvised sections of this free-jazz, Miles Davis-ish tune are probably the best to date for the large-band BFD. It’s not easy trying to get an eight-piece band to interact creatively in a wide open setting without stepping on each other. Many a Baked Potato set was opened in search of the "perfect improv"–with only occasionally satisfactory results–and we go in the studio and nail absolute magic. Pretty weird. In my eyes, the only other well-recorded example is Half Alive In Hollywood’s "Dot--Dot-Dot-Dot--Dah--Dot-Dot--Dah!"

Again, Jason Smith’s frightening repertoire is on display. I’m not a swing player, but he makes he sound like one for a bar or two. Evan just kills me in the beginning of this. Marc’s solo is the kind of thing he’s been an ace at for years, and I’m glad someone else is finally going to know about it. Tricia, in a moment of omniscience, hits the thing that goes "z-ch-z-ch-z-ch-z-ch-z-ch" at the absolute perfect moment; we all jumped up and down in the control room upon playback. (MK sez: "It’s called a vibraslap, although I prefer your description.") Rick and Oppy filled in all the right places. I used an Electro-Harmonix BassBalls pedal for the Tritones From Hell, and also did some overdubbing with the Interstellar Overdrive with the settings on Annihilate for the F# Chord Of Doom.

Now the agony: About three minutes of it had to be removed. There was no other way to get the CD in under eighty minutes. My heart broke when I heard the edited version for the first time. Extended parts of the lead-in to each statement of the melody were now gone. A surreal, hypnotizing transition from the end of Marc’s solo to the beginning of the solo groove was, as they say, ruthlessly downsized. Granted, it’s not like MK was trying to hide anything by editing it–the cuts were done in a blatant fashion reminiscent of some Miles Davis records containing extended improvs–but I just wish there was a way to have kept it, as in its unedited form it was my favorite track on the record. I do know that it may eventually be available for download, and I highly recommend it.

And yes, that is the tape reel running out at the end of the drum vamp.

"Only Mondays"–they don’t need no stinking bass player! I had to leave early on one of the tracking nights, and they knocked this out in my absence with Ziegenhagen deftly handling bass duties on the Moog. Herb Opperman? Oppy Alpert? Actually, if I could play only one part on this song, it would be the triangle.

"Lhai Sal"–this almost didn’t make it on the record, as Mike thinks little of rock shuffles, but somehow this is the second one on in two albums and I’m glad in both cases. I used the Reverend again on this one, going for that Scott Thunes sound (though he’d probably rather be shot in the head than play a rock shuffle, a nice irony). The guitar melody on this is more complex than it seems. I know from experience; I tried to work it up for a possible unison line and later thought better of it.

But the real story of this one is the "classical" middle section, where Tricia earns her Ruth Underwood stripes. Guys are funny. Ziegenhagen can play this stuff all day long and people appreciate it, but hey, he’s Keneally’s keyboard player, of course he can play polyrhythms against time and whatnot. We debuted this at The Baked Potato a couple of months ago (during the recording of the live CD), and when Tricia got out of the classical section alive, the crowd responded as if Mike had played "The Black Page" on xylophone while doing a double backflip with a dick in each ear. Surely a portion of the crowd was rightly and genuinely moved by both the piece and the dual performance of Marc and Tricia, but . . . well, that’s just what I think I saw.

This too had a solo section edited out of it, so look for a download later. Note: the disjointed ensemble ending used to be a separate piece called (I think) "Helsinki Bap." During rehearsals at Kamp Keneally they couldn’t play the final four chords without laughing hysterically (especially Oppy). I bet them all $5. that they’d do it in the studio as well. It was a bet I lost.

"The Mystery Music"–music to smile by. It took Jason a little while to settle into it, as he doesn’t fully appreciate the concept of "camp" when it comes to drumming, but even he smiled once it felt good. Check out Rick’s eastern-influenced guitar in the middle section, and Evan falling off of his note at the end of the melody line, and the happiest little keyboard chord in the world (on beat ‘4’)…funny stuff, and truly collaborative at that. How many times did it take for Tricia to nail the superfast lick on marimba? Not as many times as it took for me to get a good solo on "My Dilemma," but close.

"The Brown Triangles"–Keneally unfiltered; the current band’s version of "Backstage With Wilson Phillips." If I’d known (which I should’ve by now) that it would end up making the record, I would have played something more interesting. Keneally thankfully picked up the slack and then some. The original version had a painful feedback ending that went on for about three minutes.

"MM"–I didn’t know that this piano solo would be designated as its own track until very late in the game. You want to know why the Lydian mode is the coolest mode in the world? The last note, in octaves.

"I Was Not Ready For You"–Rick Musallam, Rick Musallam, Rick Musallam. There’s so much I love about this track, but nothing as much as the wah-wah comping Rick does at the end of selected verses. If I could play guitar, I would want it to sound like that. If I could solo at all, I would want it to sound like Rick’s solos; does this guy sound like he’s ready for the next Steely Dan record or what? This tune is also another example of why we were at Signature this time around–just listen to the depth and breadth of Mike’s vocal track, and the way the drums ring even though they’re tuned "dead."

And at the risk of tooting my own horn, the bass sound is just so perfect…all I can say is thank God for Michael Tobias and Steve W. Rabe. This was a close runner up to "We’ll Be Right Back" for my favorite song on the album.

SIDE FOUR

"Ragged Ass"–this one went on a long journey before arriving in its current condition. I think we debuted this one live in April of ’99 at The Coach House as an instrumental. Soon thereafter Mike put words to it–at least some of them were actual words–and, once we got the difficult parts under our fingers, laughed our way through it every time we did it.

Somewhere along the line, Mike decided to arrange the form sections for the full 8-piece band. We got it down on tape, but when I listened back to the rough mixes I found myself missing the humor in it. The extra pieces seemed to weigh it down and–worst of all–hide the "eyebrows." The last thing we all wanted was for this track to take itself too seriously.

Well, Mike fixed that in a hurry. After a radical re-mix and a last-minute change of heart to strip away some of the clutter and add all sorts of practically indescribable effects and vocal overdubs, you have the version that ended up on the CD. I think we all ended up happy with what we kept.

A couple of things you should know…the original solo section stayed in one key throughout, but Evan made the suggestion to drop the key a half-step every few bars or so before returning to the root. This solo is really what Evan’s all about. The sick thing is that I believe he just turned twenty, an age at which I was still learning to solo over blues forms. Also, the bass lick just after the second chorus used to be the thing that the trumpet plays just before the start of a horse race, but Mike considered it too "Zappa-esque" (I think that’s what he said). So, instead of that, I just played the worst-sounding thing I could think of. Man, it’s awful.

"Skull Bubbles"–in terms of tough choices in determining the final sequence, this one came the closest to not being on the record. It was recorded on the last day of the sessions, just before we set out to conquer "Kedgeree." I think I could’ve got a better take on it myself, but it definitely has a loose vibe that I can live with. It used to be over six minutes long before Mike took out a long solo in the middle of the tune; perhaps an unedited version can be downloaded with the rest of the "uncut" tracks. It’ll be great fun to do live, that’s for sure. The sound Mike gets with the wah-wah on the outro solo is my favorite thing about it, except for the fact that we referred to a specific part of this song as the "Eddie Money section."

"Friends And Family"–damn the hell out the part of this song from 2:07 to 3:17, a deceivingly docile but devilishly difficult piece of music. I absolutely adore the melody and main chord structure, so much so that I made Mike show me how to play it on piano (not like I could for more than a second, but it was fun while it lasted). But the section mentioned above was just a bear to get right, especially the moment at 2:59 where the rhythm seems to trip over itself but somehow land on its feet a la "’Cause Of Breakfast." The actual passage was a topic of intense debate in rehearsal among Mike, Jason, Tricia and I until we finally settled on what it really was and nailed it about five times in a row. Then when we got in the studio, it just ended up…different. I’ll leave it at that.

None of this takes away from the pure joy of the Jesse Chorus, or the Queen-style Mike Chorus that precedes it, but suffice it to say that this one will probably never be performed live in any sort of complete fashion. Which is probably just as well.

"Kedgeree"–where do I begin?!

Appropriately it was the last track we did, maybe because we knew that everything after it would be a letdown. The one we kept was the first and only attempt.

We’d been doing this one live for a while around Southern California, and since so much of it is based on visual cue and improvisation, the quality varied. Sometimes everything would click and it approached nirvana, while other times it felt overblown. It all depended on communication, something we worked hard on during our Summer ’99 residency at The Baked Potato. It’s safe to say that a track like this wouldn’t have been possible if we hadn’t made a commitment to record this album with a more band-oriented concept in mind.

The introduction was improvised, with a visual cue to begin the intro melody. From there it’s the Jason Smith show, fully inspired by Keith Moon (right down to the overcompressed cymbals). Mike’s vocals seem to glide over the verses rather than lead them; the real verse melody is in the bass line. Pretty cool than fucking-twenty-year-old Evan plays the flute as well, huh?

The bass solos were done on a separate track as an overdub (as were several of the heavy distorted sections), though I’m happy to say that unlike anything I’ve done in the past, these two mini-solos were done in one or two passes each. The sound is all SWR Interstellar Overdrive and T.C. Electronics chorus at full tilt.

The solo section is divided into three parts, and the first one really intrigued me. It was set up around a floating tonality in 5/4, and I quickly found that just about any bass note in the F mixolydian mode worked. Slowly but surely, over several live performances, I solidified a chordal pattern that seemed to work until Mike gave the cue to go to the next section. We certainly didn’t want to have a take ruined because no one knew when to look for the cue, so I began explaining to the band what the progression was. I assumed that Mike knew I’d been doing it, but in fact he knew nothing of the kind and I ended up explaining it to him as well. It was a bit of a weird position to be in. Thankfully everyone got it and we rehearsed it a little before going for a take. The happy ending: I got a partial writing credit, a first and only in my history as a musician.

Mike’s solo was done live as we tracked the basics, and it was just fucking amazing. You could feel the tension as we exited the solo section and headed for home on what was shaping up to be a perfect first take of the most emotionally complex tune on the record. I remember thinking, "Please, please, please let this be the one, please nobody break a string, please Jason don’t drop a drumstick, please no technical glitches, please no problems with the tape…"

After the last chord, everybody was just laughing. What else can you do when you get something like that on tape in one shot?

This has gone on long enough, but I just want to say a couple of things in closing. First, we’re entering a new era with this record, the era of Exowax. Immune Records is now a tale of yore in regards to the Keneally/BFD of today, and it’s all uncharted waters in terms of promotion, distribution, and just about everything you can think of. Scott Chatfield has long been the spiritual leader of the Keneally enterprise; now he’s the leader in title as well. (That’s OK–I’ve been referring to him as the CEO of Moosenet for years now. Nice to see the world catching up with me.) Without his efforts of the past year, Dancing doesn’t exist. He’s got his hands full, so let’s all join in a moment of silent prayer and wish both him and Lamn the best of luck.

Musically, this is my personal favorite album of the lot by far, for three reasons: one, I feel that the tracks are more song-oriented than ever, and I like the more "restrained" (if you can call it that) direction Mike is heading in; two, it sounds like a real "band" album for the first time ever, and I appreciate the continuity throughout the record; three, the new and improved sounds to tape resulted in better sounding tracks overall, especially the guitar sounds. There’s nothing like Mike’s solo sound on "We’ll Be Right Back" or Rick’s solo sound on "I Was Not Ready For You" on any of the previous albums. Makes you wonder what some of the earlier tunes in the Keneally catalog would sound like if recorded under Dancing conditions. Just think: "Spoon Guy" with Rick’s guitar…"Weekend" with the distorted bass from "Kedgeree"… "’Cause Of Breakfast" with Marc’s keyboard and Tricia’s melodic percussion…maybe when we tour behind this record, you’ll get the chance to hear what I’m thinking about. Then again, we’ve got so much material in the repertoire by now that we’ve finally reached that point where some tunes just won’t be played this time around. And maybe, considering how much I like the new material, that’s OK.

As for my feelings on my own performance, this is the first time I truly feel like I got everything I was feeling and thinking down on tape in a way that sounds like I wanted it to. It’s tremendously satisfying, so much so that I could live with it even if it were the last thing I ever recorded.

Speaking of tremendously satisfying, the SWR "Mo’ Bass"–the company’s brand new, much-hyped, pro-line amp with onboard effects–is nearing completion and will begin shipping on September 15. As SWR’s Product Development Manager, I’ve been working on this project like crazy all year long, and I really think it will change the way people look at bass amps. It’s also three months late, and though I’ve learned a tremendous amount of knowledge about what it takes to design, manufacture and bring a product to market, the whole thing has been incredibly stressful and has taken a toll on me. I’m looking forward to getting it over with and spending fewer nights literally sleepless, thinking about what I might have forgotten to do.

The Bass Player column continues to bring me great enjoyment. The one set to run next month (entitled "Image Is Nothing?"), is the one I’m most proud of to date. They’ve got three of my previous columns posted over at www.bassplayer.com in case you’re interested. Also, the new None For You Dear is set to debut on September 31. My third political column, "One Nation, Under God," posted in mid-August, and by the time this Act posts there will be an archive of my political columns available for your perusal at www.noneforyoudear.com. I still see myself as a work in progress when it comes to these types of pieces, but as they say, practice makes perfect.

The first new Keneally/BFD album in almost three years, the first truly new SWR amplifier in two years, new writings, new this, new that…and I recorded a new track for Steve Vai a couple of weeks ago. And James LaBrie called me to see if I was interested in doing another MullMuzzler album. And SWR wants me to go to China for a business trip. And Keneally probably has a tour coming up. And Onstage Magazine wants me to do record reviews for them. . . .

Why do I get the feeling that instead of stopping the whirlwind (as was my intention), I’ve simply redirected it? A better question: is it coming at me, or coming from me?

Considering escape routes,

Bryan Beller